Temperature is an important vital sign in patient evaluation. Physicians commonly use a variety of methods for determining patient temperature including, for example, obtaining temperature measurements with a thermometer. While thermometers utilizing mercury have been in existence for many years, modern thermometers typically employ one or more electronic sensors configured to measure patient temperature. Such sensors may take one or more measurements over a relatively short period of time. Based on these measurements, the thermometer may generate an estimated internal and/or core temperature of the patient. In generating this estimated core temperature, it is common practice to insert at least a portion of the thermometer into a disposable cover prior to taking temperature measurements. The cover may overlay the electronic temperature sensor of the thermometer, and may protect the sensor from contamination during use.
Determining core temperature in this way, however, can be problematic in certain situations. For example, despite the use of such disposable covers, harmful germs and other contaminants can be carried by the thermometer itself, from patient to patient, due to the close proximity between the patient and the thermometer when taking the temperature measurement. As a result, non-contact thermometers have become increasingly popular among healthcare professionals. Such non-contact thermometers typically employ a sensing element configured to measure the temperature of, for example, the patient's forehead, temple, and/or other external body surfaces without contacting these surfaces, and to estimate the patient's core temperature based on such measurements. However, the temperature of these external body surfaces does not often correlate well to temperature measurements taken at traditional measurement sites such as the oral cavity, rectal cavity, axilla area, or tympanic membrane. Thus, the core temperature estimates made by such non-contact devices are not as accurate as core temperature estimates made by traditional contact-based thermometers. The accuracy of measurements taken with existing non-contact thermometers is highly dependent upon the distance and alignment of the device relative to the external body surface. Thus, measurements taken with such devices are prone to significant error and, by themselves, such devices are not highly reliable as a means of patient evaluation.
The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are directed toward overcoming the deficiencies described above.